An Unexpected Encounter
by Cassandra147
Summary: Lin has always been protective. Fortunately so for a teenage Su.


_Summary: Lin has always been protective. Fortunately so for a teenage Su. _

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><p>Lin rolled her shoulders as she exited the courthouse. Nine solid hours of testifying, case after case, put a crick in her neck and spine.<p>

"Lawyers," she grumbled. "I hate lawyers."

_"They have their place, Lin. They're there to ensure a fair trial, to see that the law is followed and that the accused remains innocent until proven guilty."_

Shaking her head, Lin mumbled, "Hundreds of miles away at the Southern Temple, and I still can't avoid the lecture."

As she walked towards home, she passed a cart selling kabobs. The aroma wafted over her and she was reminded of how long ago lunch had been.

Instead of cooking, Lin decided to stop in at a restaurant. The Green Dragon, a block over, served a tasty platter and a crisp ale.

She entered and requested a table on the second floor, away from the chattering mass of university students, clerks, and secretaries thronging the ground-floor bar and seating area. Served promptly, she dived into a plate of smoked brisket coupled with seasoned potatoes and roasted mushrooms. Chilled ale cleaned the bitterness of having to listen to petty criminals whine about the unfairness of life from her mouth.

With no reason to rush home, Lin lingered. Brisket devoured, she swiped a mushroom through the juices left behind and nibbled on it.

"What did I tell you?" The young man's jovial tones carried to Lin. Emerging from the restroom, he clapped his hand on his companion's back. "She's a sweet, fresh peach, isn't she?"

"I'll say," replied the other. He grinned at his friend. "So are you? She looks ripe for the taking."

"Mmmmm, yes, and I intend to do the plucking," the first declared, oozing arrogance. Lin rolled her eyes, and hoped the girl in question wised up and slapped the smugness out of him.

"When d'you think -"

"Tonight, my friend. I'll pour another couple drinks down her pretty throat and then she's mine," crowed the first.

Lin frowned. She turned in her seat to get a good look at the two men and memorized their faces. She guessed them to be about her age, university students judging by the emblem on their jackets. Oblivious to her attention, the pair headed back downstairs.

Flagging a waitress, Lin requested and received her bill. She left the money on the table, choosing not to wait for change.

She descended the stairs, but halted on the fourth step from the bottom. With the advantage of height, she scanned the room for the two men. She located them squeezed into a booth in one corner, a woman glued to the side of the arrogant one. Several glasses dotted the table and, as Lin watched, the man scooted a full one towards the woman. At his gesturing encouragement, she drank from it.

Jaw set and uniform tunic twitched free of wrinkles, Lin descended the last few steps. She maneuvered through the crowd, her boots thudding against the wooden planks.

As she drew near, the woman's features grew clearer. She was younger, much younger than the men, with a face dolled up in cosmetics to look older. Giggling, she hung onto the man as he slung an arm about her shoulder, yanked her closer, and whispered into her ear. Her hair was falling out of its elaborate knot and her dress -

Lin's dinner threatened to make a reappearance. She knew the dress; she'd discarded it when it began to fit too tightly across her shoulders after the rigorous training she'd underwent at the police academy. The last she'd seen the dress, it had been gathering dust in the closet in her old room at her mother's house.

Anger rapidly replacing nausea, Lin strode to the table and slammed a fist on its top. The trio jumped.

"What can I do for you?" drawled her target, not moving his arm. He eyed her, huffed amusedly, and added sarcastically, "Officer Miss."

Beside him, Su paled and went still. Inebriated, it had taken her a moment to recognize her sister. Lin spared her a glance before focusing on Su's companion.

"You can slide out and let my sister up," Lin informed him.

"Your sister?" Looking at Su, he squeezed her and then grinned at Lin. "I think your sister is happy where she is."

"I don't care. She's coming with me."

"Now, see here," the man said, lounging and continuing to hold Su close. "The way I see it, your sister is an adult and can make her own choices. Isn't that right, darling?"

"It is," declared Su, raising her chin stubbornly. She swigged a drink of ale.

"So you can be on your way," finished the man, "and let us attend to our business."

Lin leaned over, planting a hand on the table. "Su is my business. An adult? How old do you think she is?"

"Lin, don't -" protested Su. "Why do you have to -"

"Eighteen," answered the man. "Legally an adult."

"She's fifteen."

Two seconds later, that fact sinking in, the man yanked his arm from around Su.

"She probably also forgot to mention her last name." Lin gave him a smile reminiscent of a hyena-tiger's to a cornered gazelle. "It's Beifong. So's mine."

The man and his friend scrambled from the booth as if Su carried a deadly plague. They stammered, "Sorry, sorry, we didn't know, we didn't mean, it was a misunderstanding, we're sorry, we didn't mean, sorry -"

"Get gone," Lin ordered.

They bolted.

Arms folded, Lin regarded her sister. She demanded, "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"This isn't fair!" Su exclaimed. "We were having a good time. You always ruin everything."

"Right, a good time. Up you wake up naked in his bed with no idea of how you got there because he got you blackout drunk," Lin snapped.

"Sozin's balls, Lin, Ravi _loves _me. He won't do a thing like that." Su sneered in disgust. "You have a nasty mind."

"You're a fucking idiot." Reaching, Lin snagged her sister's arm and dragged her out from the booth. Su attempted to shake her off, but Lin kept her grip.

Lin marched Su from the restaurant, Su struggling the entire way. A whistle hailed them a cab. Lin shoved Su into it and gave the driver Toph's address.

"Just how did you meet this Ravi?" Lin demanded.

"In the park," retorted Su, pouting. Alcohol loosening her tongue, she babbled, "My scarf blew away and he ran after it and brought it back to me. He asked to see me again, I said yes, and we've walked out together a few times. He's going to be a journalist and he plays the - the - the string thingy and he's on the sailing team and he says I'm the most beautiful woman he's ever seen and that he can't bear to live without me. So there!"

She stuck her tongue out at Lin. "AND he doesn't think I'm a child!"

"No, just an easy mark," retorted Lin. Scowling, Su shuffled as far from Lin as she could get, wedging herself against the door.

Su whined, "You're wrong about Ravi and I hate you."

"I'm not wrong, I overheard him talking to his friend about his great plan to get you drunk so he could fuck you."

"He did not!"

Lin didn't answer, doubting if Su could be convinced in her current state. They passed the remainder of the trip without conversation although Su muttered darkly under her breath.

When they arrived, Lin escorted Su inside. Noting a distinct lack of Toph, Lin demanded, "What time is Mother supposed to be home?"

"She's not. Some stupid raid," replied Su.

"Fine. I'll stay the night." She pushed Su in direction of the bedrooms. "Get out of that dress - and take off that paint. You look like a streetwalker."

"I do not!"

"Go. Change. Now." After a minute's staring contest, Su stomped her foot and obeyed.

Grimacing, Lin rubbed her temples. She sat on the sofa, listening to doors slamming as Su went to and from the bathroom and her room.

"There, you satisfied?" demanded Su, coming back into the room dressed in sleepwear. She'd been forced to scrub her face pink to remove the makeup. She looked a little queasy yet still scowled at her sister.

"Better. Su, what were you thinking? Going out drinking with someone that much older than you?"

"I was having fun," Su snapped. "Not that you would understand, you wouldn't know fun if it danced in front of you naked."

"Su, what you did was irresponsible and -"

"You got drunk! When you were fifteen!"

"Not the same and you damn well know it. I had the sense to do it with Bumi and Kya, on Air Temple Island. Not with some stranger in a bar," Lin countered.

"And so - so what if he wanted to sleep with me? What if I wanted him to? What's wrong with that?" demanded Su. "Why shouldn't I fuck someone if I want? You fucked Tenzin - sorry, you're fucking Tenzin."

Ire spiking, Lin sprang to her feet and snarled, "Don't you dare compare Tenzin to that maggot-ridden puss-sucking fuckwit. Don't you dare compare our relationship to - to - to your idiotic dalliance with your precious saint Ravi who only wants to chalk another virgin to his tally."

Su blanched, realizing she'd gone too far. Lin manhandled Su down the hall and into her bedroom.

"Bed," Lin ordered. She blocked the doorway until Su had climbed into bed. With a curt nod, Lin said, "Go to sleep," and turned off the light. The door she left open.

Returning to the living room sofa, Lin kept her feet on the floor. She watched Su's room with her seismic sense, ensuring Su stayed in bed. Every twenty minutes, she checked visually on Su until convinced Su was fast asleep. Only then did she retreat to her old room to sleep.

…

"Lin, what are you doing here?" Toph asked, entering the kitchen and curious as to why her eldest daughter was having tea at the dining table. "Did you get lonely, all by yourself in your apartment?"

"No." Lin jerked her head towards the bedrooms. "I had to bring Su home last night."

"Huh?"

"She was at a bar, gussied up to look older, drinking. With a man buying the drinks so she'd be too drunk to say no to him," Lin told Toph.

"What!"

"Lucky chance, really, that I picked the same place to have dinner after court," Lin continued. "Otherwise...Mother, you've got to keep a closer eye on her."

"Now, how am I supposed to do that?" Unable to resist the opening, Toph waved her hand in front of her face. "Blind remember?"

"This isn't a joking matter!" Lin exclaimed. "Su could have - she almost was - he told her he loved her and she eating it up, wanting to be all grown up and he just wanted to get her flat on her back and didn't care if she was too drunk to know what was happening -" She cut herself off, trying to force the images from her mind.

"Sorry," Toph said, "I didn't mean - I know this isn't a joke. Is Su okay?"

"Hopefully, she'll have a hell of a headache when she wakes up," Lin replied. "Other than that, she should be fine. Doesn't want to believe me about her boyfriend though."

"She's stubborn," remarked Toph. Lin snorted.

"Yeah, which is why you can't let her run wild, Mother. I stopped anything bad from happening this time but what about next time?"

"She's a smart girl. She'll have learned her lesson."

"I doubt it."

"What do you want me to do, Lin?" demanded Toph. "I can't be with her all the time. I have to work. Since you moved out, it's been harder to keep track of her."

"I'm not her mother," Lin insisted. "You don't get to blame me."

"I'm not blaming you!" Toph exclaimed with a huff. " 'sides, even if I could, I won't force her to account for her whereabouts every waking moment. I'm not going to cage her."

"You have to do _something_. Or she will get herself into more trouble than she can handle, and I won't be there to save her," Lin said firmly. Rising, she placed her teacup in the sink. "I've got to go. I need to get back to my apartment and change before duty."

She rested her hand on Toph's shoulder. "Bye, Mom."

"Bye, Lin." Toph touched Lin's cheek. Lin forced a smile before slipping away.

As she hastened from the house, it occurred to Lin that she had sufficient cause to hunt down Ravi. He had, after all, left the restaurant without paying his bill. Knowing his name, major, and hobbies, it wouldn't be too difficult or time-consuming to locate him at the university.

Not to mention, as his kind never tried a trick only once, he needed impressing of the severe consequences should he ever attempt it again. If she poked around, other victims might come forward.

And if she would take more than the usual pleasure in arresting him, no one could blame her.


End file.
